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Yoshi and 'F-Zero' Games Outed for the Wii U's 'Nintendo Land'

Mike Rougeau is a freelance writer living in Los Angeles, CA. When he's not taking pictures of his dog he's covering video games, technology and entertainment. Follow him on Twitter and Google+ for all the inane ramblings you can handle.

Nintendo's revealed three new Nintendo Land attractions, in addition to the Metroid, Pikmin and other similarly themed games that will appear in Nintendo's upcoming Wii U virtual theme park. The last games to be announced are "Yoshi's Fruit Cart," "Captain Falcon's Twister Race," and "Octopus Dance." Only one of those sounds like a dud, but we'll reserve judgment on all three—and the rest of Nintendo Land—until we can give it an extended test run next month.

Here's Nintendo's official descriptions of the three just-announced mini games:

"Yoshi's Fruit Cart": Using the GamePad touch screen and stylus, the player draws a path for the Yoshi Cart to follow through each course. However, only the view of the course displayed on the TV screen shows fruit that must be collected and obstacles that must be avoided along the way to the goal. This fun attraction is a great example of the kind of integrated second-screen game play made possible by Wii U and the GamePad controller.

"Captain Falcon's Twister Race": In this single-player Attraction based on the F-Zero racing franchise, players get a top-down view of the track on the GamePad, which is held vertically and turned to steer the vehicle through a winding, twisting track, as they try to hit checkpoints before time runs out. Driving across dash plates can provide a quick burst of speed, while obstacles like speed spikes, whirlwinds, other vehicles and even bombs can make for a dangerous run.

"Octopus Dance": In this single-player Attraction, players use the GamePad to mirror dance moves performed by a deep-sea dance instructor. The goal is to always be watching one's own movements from the back to more easily mirror dance moves, but the dynamic interaction between the GamePad and the TV adds a unique twist. Players must be ready to switch between the views offered on the TV screen and the GamePad screen, as sometimes one view is more useful than the other.

Nintendo Land is a pack-in with the $349.99 deluxe Wii U bundle, releasing Nov. 18.